Suturing of body tissue is a time consuming aspect of many surgical procedures. For many surgical procedures, it is necessary to make a large opening in the human body to expose the area that requires surgical repair. There are instruments available that allow for viewing of certain areas of the human body through a small puncture wound without exposing the entire body cavity. These instruments, called endoscopes, can be used in conjunction with specialized surgical instruments to detect, diagnose, and repair areas of the body that previously required open surgery to access.
Some surgical instruments used in endoscopic procedures are limited by the manner in which they access the areas of the human body in need of repair. In particular, the instruments may not be able to access tissue or organs located deep within the body or that are in some way obstructed. Also, many of the instruments are limited by the way they grasp tissue, apply a suture, or recapture the needle and suture. Furthermore, many of the instruments are complicated and expensive to use due to the numerous parts and/or subassemblies required to make them function properly. Suturing remains a delicate and time-consuming aspect of most surgeries, including those performed endoscopically.
Another difficult and time-consuming aspect of suturing tissue is tying the suture into a knot. The type and placement of the knot will depend on the nature of the surgical procedure, for example, ligation, fixation, or approximation; however, regardless of the type of procedure, it is necessary to manipulate the ends of the suture to form the required loop(s) to tie the knot. Further, it is subsequently necessary to manipulate and position the knot relative to the tissue. The manipulation and positioning of the suture and knot is difficult, because there may be limited space in which to work and limited visual access to the final position of the knot, in particular in an endosurgical environment.